Posts Tagged: "alternative dispute resolution"

Working toward settlement where reasonably possible

It’s important, particularly for technology companies in fast moving industries, to keep their eyes focused on the future and competing in the marketplace rather than focused on the past and competing in the courtroom, other than in a small number of cases where that focus really is absolutely necessary… When we deal with nonpracticing entities in mediation, we have to take them seriously. They are the parties to the lawsuit. They operate the kinds of businesses that they operate. They take positions and have underlying interests that need to be acknowledged as real and sincere. And the parties opposing the nonpracticing entities have to deal with them straight up and sometimes make some difficult decisions as to whether to settle and how much money to pay.

Think Patent Arbitration can’t Work? Think Again.

Articles, such as this one, tout arbitration as an alternative: faster, cheaper and more confidential than litigation, with other benefits as well. However, in actual practice, relatively few patent disputes are submitted to arbitration. Worldwide, only a few hundred requests to arbitrate patent disputes are filed each year. By comparison, in 2012 more than 5,000 patent lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Courts, not to mention courts of other nations. So what’s the problem? If arbitration is so great, why are so few patent disputes resolved in arbitration? More important, are patent litigants missing something? Should they rely on arbitration more often?

What Should a CEO Know About Patents?

Last week I gave an interview to Mark McCarty at Medical Device Daily, which published on Monday, August 17, 2009.  We had a good conversation for almost two hours about all kinds of patent topics.  Sometimes when you talk to reporters you never really know whether they are following what you are saying, whether they will wait for that one…

Law School Updates Patent Dispute Resolution Survey

The Alternative Patent Dispute Resolution Project (“APDRP”) at Thomas Jefferson School of Law (“TJSL”) in San Diego, California is conducting an on-line survey of lawyers, judges, clerks and scholars such as you to gauge the industry’s perception of some fairly recent proposals to improve the current Federal patent adjudicative process in the United States and to encourage the use of alternatives…